Workaround

[BOYAN BIANDOV]

Absolutely unacceptable. I just wrapped up a wasteful support call with HP; I have the highest paid support. The guy did NOT have a clue at IP's preference where you select which interface to be used by IP. He wanted to swap patch cords; confirm Internet connectivity is available and so forth.

After wrapping up the call I Google'd in 30 seconds and the answer was clear;

I suggested he test on his own gen8 to make sure it is NOT an HP IP issue; he did a test and he e-mailed me saying it also fails on his end so he will bring up with the IP back-end crew! LOL

All of this BS is absolutely unacceptable! If you bypass the license key crap you won't be able to boot again (see beutiful screen shots)

[Jiad Elkadri]

Giancarlo Zicchieri, your workaround worked for me.

Thanks for posting. 

[C_R]

Thanks Giancarlo.  Worked for me.

[Sergio_OD]

Thank you Giancarlo, your solution works like a charm

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@Giancarlo Zicchieri wrote:

Hi

I solved the issue modifying with notepad the file c:\autounattend.xml

When it appears the command prompt digit notepad c:\autounattend.xml

You have to search the string <ProductKey> and below this insert a new line that contains the string

<Key></Key>

You don't have to insert a code, only the tags.

Save the file and relaunch manually the command X:\Windows\Hpssbem.exe again

The installation will end fine.

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[Maddogg33]

Great workaround and save me alot of time

thanks

[BladeSteels]

Hello,

It's Urgent so please help me out.

For the past 8-9 hours I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with this hardware & OS. I'll go mad... now. I've to install quite a few servers from scratch and even setup Exchange 2013. I thought the hardware is new and it shouldn't raise much of a concern. All the love I had for Proliant & HP seems to be going down the lane.

My Situation:

I unpacked new servers from the box Dl380p Gen8  and wanted to install Win Svr 2012 R2 Std Edn. I usually check for firmware/drivers first but this time since servers are new I thought to start the install directly.

I went the normal way through F10 and while installing (almost near end) it starts to throw an error. A very strange error related to unattended.... I thought DVD was not burnt correctly & burnt the a new one. Again same error.

Read few blogs and found out that the drivers for Windows Server 2012 R2 were not shipped in earlier Intelligent Provisioning version because they were not tested and released successfully. So I followed the steps to download the IP version 1.6 & making bootable USB key to upgrade and after that when I press F10 and proceed the installation runs a horse in a meadow. The sad part is once it completes it ejects the DVD and reboots the server. After reboot it updates few drivers (cmd appears) and once again WIndows EULA page appears. I thought maybe in the newer version we have to accept the license again so I accepted and went somewhere.

When I came back & saw the OS had been installed again and I could see two WIndows Directories in C:\ namely [c:\windows\ & c:\windows.old] which clearly shows the OS installation is not neat.

Further, to solve this problem, I was reading blogs and came across this one where it says downgrade the IP  version to 1.5.

ANyways, please give me steps in order and simple ones please.

In this Q&A I read someone telling that he modified unattend file & it worked like a charm. Where is that file located & in which apps - OS DVD or HP IP DVD or something else. Please give detailed steps.

Also, I thought about this way which was already posted on some site too.

1. Boot server & press F5, configure smart array controller.

2. Boot from OS DVD and install OS normally by selecting the drives.

3. Later update the OS firmware/drivers using the HP SPP DVD. Please tell me which is the latest version to be used for Windows Server 2012 R2 OS and what is the correct name/version. (provide me download link so that it becomes easy).

It also says, download storage drivers and provide them when asked for install. please tell me if this way is the correct one.

Thanks,

[Bart_Heungens]

Hi,

Besides trying all the mentioned things above, you could also install the server by inserting directly the Windows DVD and not using Intelligent Provisioning but booting fro, the Windows DVD directly and install Windows like that.

Off course after the installation you should run the SPP Service Pack for Proliant to be sure you have all HP drivers, agents and apps installed...

Kr,

Bart

[Ruslannnn]

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@Giancarlo Zicchieri wrote:

Hi

I solved the issue modifying with notepad the file c:\autounattend.xml

When it appears the command prompt digit notepad c:\autounattend.xml

You have to search the string <ProductKey> and below this insert a new line that contains the string

<Key></Key>

You don't have to insert a code, only the tags.

Save the file and relaunch manually the command X:\Windows\Hpssbem.exe again

The installation will end fine.

---

Hi all,

I got the same problem with HP IP 1.60. Added <Key> string as you wrote, and SETUP continues normally, BUT - DRIVERS WERE NOT INSTALLED as if I installed that all things MANUALLY. Then I downgraded IP to 1.50, and Windows Server 2008 and all drivers were installed normally.

[Peter_378]

This works perfectly for me.

Thank you so much!

Peter

[george sterle]

Thank you Giancarlo Zicchieri your solution solved my problem.   Following your instructions on editing the autounattend.xml file for a dos prompt  did the trick.   I am interested on how you found such a solution.

Thanks you saved me big time!